


In Which Comfort Is Sought

by OlwenDylluan



Series: It Cannot Be Taken From You [11]
Category: Good Omens (TV), Good Omens - Neil Gaiman & Terry Pratchett
Genre: Kid Fic, M/M, No beta we fall like Crowley, Other, Siblings, does it count as kid fic if the kids are snakes and so is one of the parents, moving is stressful, parenting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-13
Updated: 2019-11-13
Packaged: 2021-01-30 06:02:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 775
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21423361
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OlwenDylluan/pseuds/OlwenDylluan
Summary: Aziraphale checks on the children before going to bed, but things aren't right.This takes place a few days after the family has moved into their cottage, as written byQuillyhere.It comes beforeIn Which Angelica and Clem Meet a Localin my Wiggleverse fics.Flameraven drewthe cuddle pileand it is ADORABLE.
Relationships: Aziraphale & Crowley (Good Omens), Aziraphale/Crowley (Good Omens)
Series: It Cannot Be Taken From You [11]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1602421
Comments: 33
Kudos: 365
Collections: Wiggleverse





	In Which Comfort Is Sought

A handful of days into living in the cottage, things were starting to feel a bit more grounded. They’d worked out a basket and pulley system for the snakelets to use to get to the second floor if they didn’t want to change and use legs, which they were quite grateful for. Clem in particular loathed the stairs. He complained about having enough trouble on a flat surface like a floor, without bringing climbing up steps into it. If he was going upstairs with a sibling, they’d carry him willingly (sometimes), but he wanted the autonomy the others had without going to the trouble of shifting. Crowley and Datura designed it together, heads close to one another over papers and drawings spread across the coffee table in the sitting room, and built it only three days after they had moved in.

Having the run of the property after living in the bookshop was a bit overwhelming for some, not so much for others. Anthony Junior and Angelica vanished for hours the second day, exploring the area, coming home with burrs in their hair and trousers torn, and Junior was missing a shoe entirely. Rosa established a reading nook in the rose garden, under an arbour, and gave dark looks to anyone who showed even a smidgen of interest in joining her.

All in all, it seemed like things were going well, children vanishing for hours on end aside. (What if they had fallen into a stream, what if they had fallen out of a tree, what if they had been hit by a car, what if what if what if… Crowley ushered Aziraphale into his study and coaxed him into arranging this books on the shelves to soothe his nerves.)

So one night during that first week, when Aziraphale climbed the stairs to check on the children before he went to read in bed next to a dead-to-the-world Crowley, finding Junior’s room empty was a bit of a shock. He crept in to gently prod at the blankets on the bed, wondering if the child chosen to sleep in snake form instead, but felt nothing. A quick bend to look under the bed revealed no Junior, either.

Frowning, Aziraphale went across the hall to peek into Angelica’s room. She was missing as well.

Had they gotten up and gone outside to explore at night? Knowing those two, it was entirely possible. Aziraphale felt a wave of panic, quickly followed by a wave of indignant anger. No, they wouldn’t dare, not so soon after moving in. They knew Crowley and Azirafather would be very cross indeed. Besides, no-one had opened either the front or the back garden doors while he had been reading in the sitting room downstairs.

Aziraphale moved further down the corridor to peek into Rosa’s room. Like the others, it was empty, and this bed was missing its covers. After furrowing his brow, he began to vaguely suspect what may have happened, and only peeped briefly into Datura’s room to make sure it was empty before stepping gently to the last bedroom.

He pushed the door open soundlessly, just enough to peer around the edge. There on the floor was a pile of blankets, pushed and pulled around to mound around his children, all in a pile together. Some were human forms, some snakes, and it didn’t matter who was which and which was who. They were over and around each other, sharing warmth and closeness, and all five were sound asleep. A cuddle pile, they had called it when they were small serpents.

He smiled, his heart warming. Moving was stressful; he knew that very well. He’d been in the bookshop for over two hundred years, after all. He probably wouldn’t have agreed to move if not for the children, just staying in London, going back and forth between the shop and Crowley’s flat as the whim struck them. And with the discovery of the ability to shift shape being still recent in the grand scheme of things, and sleeping is separate rooms after being together since hatching… well, it was no wonder they’d felt the need for companionship and closeness. The need for reassurance led them back to behaviour and actions that made them feel safe.

Aziraphale closed the door quietly and went back downstairs, smiling to himself. He slipped into bed next to the sleeping Crowley, who turned to him and nestled into his warmth without even waking up. Aziraphale gently stroked the russet hair, then reached for the book on top of the pile on his bedside table. He was, after all, familiar with how snakes liked their snuggles.

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this after reading [Quilly](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Quilly/pseuds/Quilly)'s [Welcome Home](https://archiveofourown.org/works/21420358/chapters/51035776) of her Snake Cottage vignettes, but before reading [the second chapter](https://archiveofourown.org/works/21420358/chapters/51035794), and I am highly amused. It seems our cottage headcanons regarding how the characters would behave are very much in sync. I've had the cuddle pile in my head for a while, although in my initial vision there were only two rooms and bunk beds in each.


End file.
